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Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development

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Author Info
Janet Currie

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Abstract

There are many possible pathways between parental education, income, and health, and between child health and education, but only some of them have been explored in the literature. This essay focuses on links between parental socioeconomic status (as measured by education, income, occupation, or in some cases area of residence) and child health, and between child health and adult education or income. Specifically, I ask two questions: What is the evidence regarding whether parental socioeconomic status affects child health? And, what is the evidence relating child health to future educational and labor market outcomes? I show that there is now strong evidence of both links, suggesting that health could play a role in the intergenerational transmission of economic status.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 13987.

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Date of creation: May 2008
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13987

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Production
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Salm, Martin & Schunk, Daniel, 2008. "The Role of Childhood Health for the Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital: Evidence from Administrative Data," IZA Discussion Papers 3646, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Janet Currie & Mark Stabile & Phongsack Manivong & Leslie L. Roos, 2008. "Child Health and Young Adult Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 14482, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Janet Currie & Matthew J. Neidell & Johannes Schmieder, 2008. "Air Pollution and Infant Health: Lessons from New Jersey," NBER Working Papers 14196, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Janet Currie & Reed Walker, 2009. "Traffic Congestion and Infant Health: Evidence from E-ZPass," NBER Working Papers 15413, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. W. Bentley MacLeod & Miguel Urquiola, 2009. "Anti-Lemons: School Reputation and Educational Quality," NBER Working Papers 15112, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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